Carl Smith Diary

March 8, 1769
I’m a male and my original name is Carl Smith my friends call me CS. My age is 23 years old. I’m from Virginia and during the last years I have been traveling around the 13 colonies to fight the British soldiers. My ancestors came to the “New World” because they wanted to be free and not wanting to anyone controlling them. I’m single, that is the reason why I joined the American Army over 6 Months ago is because I was unable to get a job that I wanted was unable to received my diploma, because I was unable to afford the stamp to be stamped on the certificate. Eighteenth century officers were hardly professionals in the modern sense of the word, for they might well first enter the service as mere boys through inheritance or purchase
Last night was a battle that lasted a little less than 10 minutes. Young boys decided to attack 2 British soldiers outside the customs house with snowballs. The British soldiers did not liked the attack and they started to shoot. We decided to gather up and to start to fight with the British soldiers, the people around the town called it the Boston massacre. It did not was a massacre only about 5 people were killed in the battle. On Monday evening, the 5th instant, March, 1770, being at the south part of town between the hours of nine and ten o’clock, I heard the bells in the centre of town ring, and fire cried, ran immediately for King Street, where I supposed it was, and to my great astonishment, I saw a number of soldiers with presented bayonets, commanded be an officer whom I did not then know; the soldiers formed a semicircle round the sentinel box to the Customhouse door—I went immediately up to them, and spoke to the fourth man from the corner, who stood in the gutter, and asked him if the soldiers were loaded, he replied Yes! I then asked if they intended to fire, was answered positively, “Yes! By Eternal God!” Then I looked round to see what number of inhabitants were in the street, and computed them to be about fifty, who were then going off as soon as possible; at the same time I observed a tall man standing on my left hand, who seemed not apprehensive of the danger he was in, and before I had time to speak to him, I heard the word “Fire!” and immediately the report followed, the man on my left dropped. I asked him if he was hurt, but received no answer, I then stooped down and saw him gasping and struggling with death. I then saw another laying dead on my right, but further up the street. I then saw the soldiers loading again, and ran up the street to get some assistance to carry off the dead and